


i´ve been hearing symphonies, before all i heard was silence.

by vicbartons



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Anniversary, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, there are two lines of swearing in here just fyi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-19 03:37:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10631358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vicbartons/pseuds/vicbartons
Summary: aaron feels like after everything robert´s done for him over the last year, the least he can do is cook him a proper anniversary dinner. so he does. well, he tries to.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i´m ignoring the current plot here, because i value my sanity. since this is my first ever fanfiction, all constructive critisism is appreciated.
> 
> title from "symphony" by clean bandit and zara larsson

Aaron was cooking. Well, actually it would be more accurate to say that Aaron was trying to cook. He was man enough to admit that anything more elaborate than a bacon sarnie was usually beyond him. But today was important and he would be damned if he didn´t put a decent anniversary dinner on the table by the time Robert returned from work. Sure, booking a restaurant would have been easier, but after having spent the past few weeks locked in a cell, constantly having to look over his shoulder, constantly running scared, he didn´t need the crowd. And really, he just wanted some quality time with his husband. _Alone. No interruptions._

So that was why Aaron was standing in the kitchen of the Woolpack. A kitchen towel thrown over his shoulder, trying to keep an eye on the two pots and the pan currently on the stove in front of him as well as the preheated oven. _Cottage pie._ Robert´s favourite food. ( ~~Yes, proper farmer´s food. Not that fancy sushi he´d had at a business dinner in Leeds that one time. He just said that, because it made him sound posh.~~ ) Because of course it couldn´t have been something like curry and chips. That would have been too easy.

Aaron had overheard him and Victoria talking about it one evening in the pub. About how nothing had ever measured up to the way that their mum used to make it. He hadn´t really paid much attention to it back then, but had filed the information away somewhere in the back of his mind, along with all these other small details that made Robert Robert.

Like the way he took his coffee, or his favourite comic book, or the name of the overpriced clothing store that sold those sweaters with the ridiculous elbow patches that his husband was so fond of.

Once the idea of cooking Robert a proper meal for their anniversary had made its way into his mind, he´d dug that little fact back up and gone to Victoria to grab the family recipe.

It had earned him a well weird look from his sister-in-law, who obviously wasn´t convinced he´d be able to pull it off. She had even offered to make it for them, but that wasn´t the point.

After everything that Robert had done for him – especially over the last few weeks, but really over the last year and a half – he wanted to put more effort into it. He needed to. Because Robert was the most important thing in his life - keeping him together when everything was falling apart - and Aaron needed him to know that. Properly. No soppy card or speech would do. Especially because Aaron knew full well that using words to get his feelings across wasn´t exactly his strong suit. So dinner it was. Because the way to a man´s heart was through his stomach or something, right? Which meant that he needed to be the one to make the damn pie. God knows how.

 _A year._ Somehow they had made it a year. From that afternoon in the back of the Woolpack, full of uncertainty and hopes for something. Something more reliable than what they had before. Something more real.

And god, what they had now was more than Aaron could ever have hoped for.

 _There was the Mill down the road._ Their house. Their home. A home Robert had built for them, while Aaron was locked away. Putting every spare minute of his time into it, even though he´d already been spread thin taking care of two businesses, two kids and Aaron´s appeal. Robert had wanted to make sure that everything was perfect for Aaron´s return. Making every decision with Aaron on his mind. Which is why the next time Aaron would attempt to cook for his family, he´d be able to pull the kitchen drawers open by a handle, instead of having to deal with the handle-less cupboards his better half had been swooning over while browsing catalogues with pieces of furniture more expensive than half the things Aaron owned put together.

 _Then there was his little sister,_ who was currently blasting some cheesy pop song Aaron only vaguely recognised in her room. The only good thing that had come out of Gordon´s return into his life. Aaron hadn´t been able to do anything other than love her practically from the moment she´d re-entered his life. Robert had been a different story though. Initially, he´d seemed uncomfortable with the presence of the gobby intruder in their newfound relationship. Worried of the impact she might have on them. But then that fear had slowly worn off and if Aaron had thought he couldn´t love Robert more then he did back then, he had been proven wrong. He´d fallen in love with him a little bit more every time he´d noticed him trying to make an effort with her. Every time the two of them would throw snarky remarks at each other that screamed “brother and sister” long before either of them saw the other that way. Every time Robert had made it a priority that Liv felt safe and comfortable and wanted, after picking up on just how much the girl needed some certainty and stability in her life. Aaron had never felt as much part of a family then when Robert had started to use the term “we“ when planning for the future, including Liv in that “we” without even thinking about it. He wasn´t sure if Robert had even noticed the shift, if it had been a conscious decision for him to count Liv as part of their little family from there on out, but Aaron had noticed. And he´d loved him even more for it.

 _And then there was the simple silver ring on his left hand,_ sitting comfortably around his finger. Their marriage. Something Aaron never thought he would have. Not since the day he had realized that his future would never include a wife, 1.5 kids and a white picket fence. Not since the days when locking himself in a garage with the motor of his car running had seemed like a better choice than facing a future as a gay man. Marriage was something Aaron never knew he would value as much as he did now, not until he had slowly pulled the ring off his finger and set it down onto a cold hard metal table in the warden´s office the first day of his prison sentence. He could never have imagined the happiness and relief he felt the moment he got to push it back onto his finger before leaving prison behind. He´d had no idea how good it would feel to call someone his husband, how safe and grounded it would make him feel. Like he was part of something bigger. How it would give him the sense of family and security he had longed for.

 _Aaron was happy._ Genuinely happy. For the first time in a long time. Maybe even for the first time in his life. And a lot of that was down to Robert.

Aaron was torn from his thoughts by a harsh, bitter smell. The smell of something burning. It took him a moment to focus on the pans and pots in front of him, but then he saw the onions. All black. “Shit. Shit. Shit” He dragged the pan off the stove, turning down the heat on the other hotplate, because the water cooking the potatoes was dangerously close to overflowing. With a grunt he emptied the pan over the trashcan, trying to get all the burnt food out of it with a spoon before putting the pan back on the stove. Second try. How hard could it possibly be, right?

Very hard, apparently, because Aaron let the pan slip and his hand ended up on the hotplate. The one that had held the pan with burning food just a minute ago. Because of course this whole effort had to turn into even more of a mess.

Aaron let out a scream. “Oh for fuck´s sake.” Hastily, he pulled his hand off the plate, shaking it, but the area under his right pinkie was already turning bright red. He moved to the sink, turning on the water, letting out the breath he´d been holding once the cold water started running over the burn.

“Aaron?” Robert. Of course.

“Aaron, you alright?” He sounded worried, probably because he´d heard his husband´s swearing.

“Yeah..in here. Kitchen.” Aaron hissed. He was still holding his hand under the cold, running water. The biting pain of the burn was making his eyes water. He tilted his head back, closed his eyes and bit his bottom lip, trying hard to ignore the pain when he felt Robert´s familiar hand on his shoulder.

“Christ, what have ya done? Can´t leave you alone for a minute, can I?” Robert shuffled Aaron to the side, taking the burnt hand in his. Carefully, he let his thumb rub over the palm of Aaron´s hand, making him relax a bit.

“What are ya doing here, you muppet? Pretty sure I told you not to turn up here before six.” Aaron growled. Though that was more down to the pain than actual annoyance with his husband.

“Nicola was doing my head in and I missed ya. Sue me.” Sometimes Aaron was jealous of how casually Robert could admit things like that. “Anyway, considering that you were apparently about to burn the pub to the ground and injure yourself in the process, you should thank me for showing up to save ya.”

“Yeah right.” Aaron scoffed.

“There´s a reason we don´t let ya in the kitchen unsupervised.” Robert smiled at him, eyebrows raised, a bit of worry in his tone. He moved over to the fridge, pulling an ice pack out of the freezer.

“Wrap that up in the towel, keep it pressed on the burn and sit down, will ya? I´ll take care of dinner.” Aaron did as he was told, a defeated look on his face.

“What are we having anyway?” Robert asked. His husband nodded towards the recipe on the counter. “I remembered you and Vic talking about it? About how much you loved it when your mum used to make it?” Robert smiled at him. “Oh.” He gave Aaron that look. That look that he reserved only for his husband. The kind of look other people didn´t think Robert Sugden was capable of, no ego or smugness, just love and a little bit of shock at the fact that someone cared that much.

Aaron had decided a long time ago that it would be one of his missions in life to get that little bit of doubt and shock out of Robert´s smile for good.

“You cooking wasn´t really part of the plan for tonight. I wanted to do something nice for ya for once…” Aaron grumbled, feeling disappointed in himself. Not that he´d had much trust in his own cooking skills to begin with.

Robert smirked. “I love you from the bottom of my heart, Mr. Sugden, but I don’t trust your cooking.“ Aaron scoffed and gave Robert´s arm a light slap, earning an offended look from his husband. “Anyway, there are other nice things I could think of that you can do for me, but you´re definitely gonna need both of your hands intact for those…”

 

They ended up on the couch later that night. Robert´s head in Aaron´s lap. The fingers of Aaron´s uninjured hand slowly running through the blonde´s hair.

“I appreciate the effort, ya know…” Robert whispered.

“Well, I still wish I could have pulled it off properly. You deserve it… after everything…”

“Doesn´t matter.”

“Course it does…because… you know…”

“I know.” Aaron leaned down and kissed him then.

It wasn´t what Aaron had planned. He could certainly have done without the new scar currently forming in the palm of his hand. But at the end of the day, he realised, all either of them needed was this. Them ending the day together. No big gestures. Just them, curled up on the sofa. Touching.

 

Aaron could get used to more anniversaries like this one.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on tumblr [@vicbartons](http://www.vicbartons.tumblr.com)


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